In Which I Lose the Rest of my Dignity and Arrive Home Happy

Well, I'm back. No, I'm not threatening anybody :)

I can't believe only a week ago I was in the air probably over an ocean, wishing I could sleep but probably reading Flowers for Algernon instead. (I picked that book up at the airport...it was really interesting, but I would be very cautious in recommending it.)

I have to relate one last Ukraine incident. I suppose I was bound to close my time there in style...my style...

After hugging the sending off crew goodbye (Deb, some of the kids, and Simeon & Asia, who were going shopping with Deb) I got through checking in just fine and got my boarding pass, then sat down in the lounge area to wait, staring for a while at the wavy lines in the roof design and the blue ones of the walls with names of cities painted on.

I discovered that I was suddenly very hungry, so I went over to the little cafe type place across the room. I saw kefir there and, thinking "When am I going to get kefir again?" I decided to get one. In Rzhishchiv it would have only cost fifty cents or so, but this one was four "stinking" dollars and I was a little affronted to find that I had not only been grossly overcharged by also badly ripped off with a bad exchange rate. But I figured that breakfast is breakfast, and I would rather have a four dollar Kefir than a four dollar anything else. So I was a sucker and bought it.

I returned to my seat, as usual trying to act more graceful and composed than I really am, and as usual, not succeeding. I tried to pull off the tab that sealed my kefir, but instead of peeling back, it broke off. Result: sealed kefir, no tab. Unwilling to sacrifice four dollars to a kefir never to be drunk, I pried it open with my fingernails with some trouble. It opened with a sudden burst, spraying kefir onto my face and down my shirt! Dignity...composure...grace...

Well, I managed to clean it up and drink my kefir from the awkwardly designed bottle before boarding the plane. What better way to exit the country? I told myself.

I settled onto the plane, relished the lift off, and spent the next half hour nursing a surprise nosebleed that shattered the rest of my dignity. So I gave up on dignity and composure for the rest of the trip and had a great time, happily joking with the Gatwick checking people, who shocked me by being very nice to me, and laughing almost out loud at the ogreman who yelled at me and everyone else throught the line at JFK. Somebody was having a bad day, but it wasn't going to be me!

I arrived home after a long and sleepless journey, and delighted in the hugs and raptures of my family members. We spent a night in Dallas, then came home for a day or two, then went away again to Glen Rose, TX for a few days.

And now we are home, and I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a cliff with blankness before me. All the nicely formulated plans I had back in Ukraine now seem to fade to mere ideas and wishes, and at least for the moment I feel the need to look down at the ground to steady myself, because looking out THERE is making me dizzy. We only get one day at a time anyway. God is good to keep me trusting Him.

More Later...